Baseball Video Guidance
Having lots of great videos for college coaches to review is a crucial part of the recruiting process. Before recruiting student-athletes, college coaches want to learn as much as they can about potential recruits and one of the best ways to do this is by watching video.
FieldLevel has spoken to numerous college baseball coaches about what they want AND don’t want to see from athletes in their videos.
Here are the most important things you can do to impress college coaches with the best video possible.
1. Create a Highlight Reel
Your highlight reels should showcase your best moments as a player and demonstrate your strengths. Post the highlights you do have and continue to upload new ones as time goes on.
| Your highlight reel should… | Your highlight reel should not… |
| – Be between 2-5 minutes long and show your best skills first. – Include a mixture of game film, drills, or workouts showcasing your athleticism, skills, and fundamentals at your position. – Include an introduction slide listing your name, school/club name, grad year, GPA, contact info, your coaches’ contact info, and metrics if possible. – Be organized into sections around particular skills like pitching, fielding, or hitting. – Include multiple angles to help coaches evaluate consistency with mechanics. – Always show the outcome of a play — if you hit the ball, include where the ball went; if you field the ball, include the throw so coaches can see ball flight. | – Be blurry, shaky or leave out important details of a play. Coaches want to see what led up to the final result. – Be overly edited or cut down dramatically — show consecutive swings or pitches so coaches can see how you can repeat your mechanics and play the game. – Use replay, slow motion, or any unnecessary effects. – Include music or any distracting background noise. Some coaches pay attention to sound from the ball coming off the bat or a pitch hitting the catcher’s glove. |
“We’re evaluating you on your individual skill set. If what you show us on film shows you have the skills to make the jump to the next level, we’re going to want to reach out to your coaches to dig more into you as a recruit.”
2. Have Game Tape Readily Available
Coaches will also want to study your game tape to verify the talent they saw in your highlights is consistent throughout a game. They will use your game video to see how you move, interact with your teammates, improve from game to game, and to evaluate your attitude and leadership abilities. It’s important to have game footage readily available in case college coaches request it from you.
| Your game videos should… | Your game videos should not… |
| – Show complete at-bats if you’re hitting or full innings of you on the mound if you’re a pitcher. – Be compact — cut out dead periods to save time and highlight yourself before any standout plays. – Match exactly what coaches ask of you — coaches will typically reach out for supplemental game video and request what they want to see, so make sure you honor those requests. – Include a timestamp list of major plays in the game — this can be included on an intro slide to the video or in the video comments. | – Be low quality or shot from too far away — game film is only helpful if coaches can distinguish what they are seeing. – Show negative body language or energy in a game. – Have unnecessary music or edits — coaches need to see plays in real-time and hear communication on the field. – Be too dated — try to keep it as recent as possible. |
“Your videos should be business-like, show your best. Coaches want to see what type of athlete you are but also how you conduct yourself on the field.”
3. Showcase your Positional Skills
Coaches are also interested in seeing clear videos of you going through drills and showing your position-specific skills. These videos capture game-like situations from clear angles and help showcase fundamentals and your athletic abilities.
Tips for Position-Specific Videos
- Pitchers
- Be shot from multiple angles so coaches can view the mechanics and movement of your pitches. Helpful angles include behind the plate, behind the mound, and from your open side.
- Show velocity.
- Infielder
- Show that you can field ground balls from different angles and positions.
- Demonstrate how you move, get to ground balls, and position your body to make throws.
- Show athleticism, hand-eye coordination, and solid footwork (forward, backward, side-shuffle, back-pedal, etc.).
- Outfielder
- Showcase your speed and how you track fly balls off the bat.
- Demonstrate your ability to get behind fly balls as much as possible to make the appropriate throw.
- Show off your arm strength and show how you can hit the cutoff man or throw through the cutoff man.
- Catcher
- Show off your arm strength with throws to all bases, especially second.
- Demonstrate your receiving and blocking skills.
- Include clips from games and batting practice.
- Hitting
- Try to show at-bats off of live pitching, whether in games or practice.
- Batting practice is great too – just make sure you’re taking your in-game swings. Think about situational hitting and show how you can hit to all fields.
- Include a few swings from the side and behind.
Regardless of your position, show college coaches drills, skills, and actions that translate to game-like situations. Additionally, don’t spend too much time highlighting one skill — including two to three clips of a skill in one video is plenty.
“Highlights are nice but many coaches don’t want to only see highlights. Incorporate full at-bats, or consecutive reps in row, unedited, so coaches can get a feel for how you consistant you are with a skill.”
4. Record Verified Measurables
Coaches will want to verify that your physical measurements and numbers are accurate. Measurable verification usually happens when coaches watch you play or during visits, but you can make it easier for coaches by verifying your measurables on video beforehand.
| Your verified measurable videos should list… | Your verified measurable videos should not list… |
| – Height. – Weight. – 60 time — preferably with stopwatch verification. – Radar readings, exit velocities, and other important metrics. | – Any false information — video doesn’t lie. |
“Don’t lie or fudge your numbers, coaches will be able to see the truth on film.”
These things will likely impress any baseball coach you speak with during the recruiting process. Coaches and athletes — if you would like to learn more or share the information found in this article, you can download our worksheet below.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD VIDEO GUIDANCE WORKSHEET
If you have any questions about video or the recruiting process, the FieldLevel team is here to help you and support you. If there’s anything we can do, please contact us in one of the following ways:
Phone: 888-908-7124
Email: support@fieldlevel.com
Demo: Schedule a Time
